Court denies appeal by Bush to exclude hand recounts

Published Thursday, December 07, 2000

ATLANTA (AP) -- For the second time in three days, the federal judiciary crafted a narrow ruling that avoided trampling on Florida courts while reserving the right to settle the disputed presidential election in the future.

The authors this time were eight of the 12 judges on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and they turned down George W. Bush's request to halt hand recounts already sanctioned by the Florida Supreme Court and certified by state election officials.

The judges ruled that Bush failed to prove he was imminently harmed by recounts completed last month that trimmed his lead in Florida's contested presidential race.

But the judges added, ''The court does not at this time decide the merits of Plaintiffs constitutional arguments.''

In so doing, the appeals court, like the U.S. Supreme Court before it, left itself the room to overturn past or future rulings by Florida courts and determine a winner themselves.

The judges rejected claims by Florida election officials who argued the case was moot because the manual recounts were finished.

Al Gore and other Democrats are ''currently contesting the election results in various lawsuits in numerous Florida state courts,'' they said in their ruling. ''In view of the complex and ever-shifting circumstances of the case, we cannot say with any confidence that no live controversy is before us.''

The U.S. Supreme Court followed a similar path Monday when it vacated a Florida Supreme Court ruling that permitted the hand recounts.

Wednesday's ruling referred to a Florida district court's rejection of a Bush request to stop last month's recounts after a short hearing with little evidence presented. The appellate judges said it would be wrong for a federal Appeals Court to use such a case to decide issues such as the constitutionality of Florida election laws.